The Compassionate Life

"On one side of our planet there are people living a lavish life with the profits made from selling arms, while innocent people are getting killed with those sophisticated arms on the other side of our planet. Therefore, the first step is to stop selling weapons. Sometimes I tease my Swedish friends: 'Oh, you are really wonderful. During the last period of conflict you remained neutral. And you always consider the importance of human rights and world peace. Very good. But in the meantime you are selling many weapons. This is a little hypocritical, isn't it?'

"At the time of the Persian Gulf crisis I made an inner pledge — a commitment that for the rest of my life I would contribute to furthering the idea of demilitarization. As far as my own country is concerned, I have made up my mind that in the future, Tibet should be a completely demilitarized zone. Once again, in working to bring about demilitarization, the key factor is human compassion."